You should definitely write about what you know. That's for sure. I have used that before in shows and in life. It's a good way to share a little of yourself if you're writing about something you care about. So, I guess I'll be writing about me, then. Well, sort of.

I should share a bit more about the projects I'm working on right now. There are three of them.

1. Me - I need to lose weight - what a fatty bum bum
2. Stand-up - I want to kick myself over the next hurdle and develop the stand-up even more
3. Edinburgh show - badly named, as I'm doing it in other places

Me
I need to lose weight. I went swimming last week. I still hurt. Not sure if it was the physical exertion or the getting quite naked around strangers which most bothered me. I invented a new swimming stroke that improves the exercise because it's deeply inefficient and counter productive.

I have been better with the eating. That's the secret to this, by the way. Diet and exercise. The pair of them together = being healthier and happier and more awake.

I would really love a bakewell tart, though.

Stand-up
I went through a bit of a slump in Jan/Feb. I'm well on the up now. I have been gigging a fair bit in March and they've been going pretty well. I think I just needed to adjust my motivation a bit. It's probably quite common - those people who feel negative about what they're doing don't do as well. While I've felt positive about wanting to do comedy, I think I've been focussing on some of the wrong things, like the pressures of getting to gigs and getting a show put together, along with the whole "if I've not gigged as much recently, will it go well?" issue, which is a non issue if you just smile and have a nice time.

Still, you need to have some crappy gigs to inspire you to improve... and they are long in the past now (in gig terms at least).

Edinburgh
Edinburgh is a place. However, it is also used in the stand-up comedy scene as a time of year. Also known as August. On top of that, it's used as a description of the sorts of acts of vanity that stand-ups put themselves through, which is otherwise known as creating some sort of hour-long show. Perhaps these shows are great. Perhaps these are acts of woolliness that don't deserve an audience. It's hard to say.

Last year's show, as a format, worked pretty well. I'm pleased with the idea of doing a one-hour themed show, and I think that the theme can both generate and support material. You can write any old random material and then find a way to hook it loosely into your theme... but then the theme can ask you questions, which you can use to generate material. I say you. I mean me.

So, I have a certain quantity of source material, some of which I've tentatively tried out in my stand-up set, and some of which remains woefully untested. Some is funny. Some is weird. Who knows which is which.

There's a lot of work to do on this show which will be given proper publicity soon on TheSevenDeadly.co.uk and is called The Seven Deadly Sings. It is due to be exposed in Brighton at the beginning of May, and has already sold some tickets. So I have to go there now.

There will be previews galore, and I hope to develop this into a tight hour which could tour, and which could offer me some alternative material to use in my stand-up in place of the stuff that's coming up to 7 years old.

Exciting.

Scary.

But worth it.

In Conclusion
I'm working hard on a bunch of things and have less time than ever before. I have taken to twittering, which is why I've put my twitter feed on my blog. It seems time to work in all media.

Keep in touch.